Both she and Edna May Oliver portrayed Parthy Hawks in "Show Boat" - Westley onscreen in Show Boat (1936), and Oliver onstage in 1927 and 1932. Both actresses passed away, within a month of each other, in 1942.
On December 12, 1942, she became the fifth famed character actress to die in within a short span of time, the others being (Dame) Marie Tempest (October 15); May Robson (October 20); Edna May Oliver (November 9); and Laura Hope Crews (November 13).